Pierre Probst (December 6, 1913 - April 12, 2007) was a French

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

. He was known for his creation of the ''Caroline'' character, a heroine for children books. Probst was born in

Mulhouse Mulhouse (; Alsatian language, Alsatian: or , ; ; meaning ''Mill (grinding), mill house'') is a city of the Haut-Rhin Departments of France, department, in the Grand Est Regions of France, region, eastern France, close to the France–Switzerl ...

, then part of Germany, to a family that manufactured printed fabrics. Deciding at a young age to become an artist, he studied at the

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth century ...

. He moved to

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

in the 1930s and did many jobs related to drawing, painting and photo-editing. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he served in the French Army. Captured by Germans, Probst told them he wished to return to civilian life in Mulhouse. Once released, he escaped and returned to Lyon and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. He worked for ''Hachette'' in Paris, first drawing animal stories for children, such as those featuring Chippy the cocker-spaniel. In 1953, he created ''Caroline'', based on his tomboyish daughter Simone. He died in Suresnes in 2007, aged 93.

''Caroline''

Since the creation of the series in 1953, 43 albums of ''Caroline'' were created and 38 million copies of those albums were sold. 'Caroline' is about seven years old, and has blonde hair with pigtails. She lives by herself among a band of friends - the dogs Bobby and Rusty, the cats Puff and Inky, the bear Bruno, a lion and a panther.

External links

A Web site about Caroline

References

French cartoonists Artists from Mulhouse French children's writers 1913 births 2007 deaths Enid Blyton illustrators {{cartoonist-stub